So I was at hitsville and read about Nkki Finke’s assessment of the Speed Racer opening weekend. It’s the type of piece that most people outside of Hollywood probably aren’t uses to; its got that vendetta laced tone; a happy to see others fail/tossing of facts and figures to prove the point feel. No other industry outside of showbiz will openly display that kind of rancor without justification. Her mid-weekend prediction was that the film wasn’t going to make the 20 million dollar mark that the studio was aiming for. The film did NOT make the mark, they only generated about 18.5 on a film that probably cost 150 million to make. Keep in mind Jon Favreau from Iron Man said on Leno that if they had only made 50 million instead of a 100 in their opening weekend THEY would have been considered failures too. But that’s how Hollywood works, it’s a smile in your face then stab you in the back/hope everybody except my own projectfails kind of world. And as a wannabe actor I spent about 20 years of my life in it. And now with MY movie on it’s way to being made, I’ll be heading back into the field next year.

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Tags: Comic Books, MoviesTV by Dave
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Wow. So it’s finally happened. I’ve become “one of them.” I have become a film critic-or at least a reasonable fact simile. Here’s the deal; I’ve always loved movies and at about 15 years of age I started reading movie reviews in the Chicago Reader. And over the years I finally got into the habit of cutting out movie reviews and going to the see the movie THEN to read the reviews. Because I learned that I didn’t want a review in my head as I watched the movie, but I DID want to maybe read some history about the directory or how the movie came together, and yeah, even what the reviewers thought. Of course Chicago is quite famous for nor only our love of movies but our reviewers too; Gene and Roger anybody? One of the “tricks” I noticed that reviewers used is to dual review some big budget movie and then contrast it with some independent art house movie in the same story . And so, ladies and gentlemen, I have arrived.

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Tags: Comic Books, MoviesTV by Dave
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Up is Down and Down is Up. First of all I wrote this a couple of days ago and thought it posted but it was just in save, but it’s still kind of breaking news. Yeah, the world of comic and Moves/TV is crossing at an even greater pace then when I first wrote a piece back in October. So one piece of big news to come out of the New York Comic Convention is that Mark Waid is doing 2 big things. He’s coming over from DC Comics to Marvel Comics to work on Amazing Spider-Man. Now, it was only about a week ago I talked about what a fantastic job he did on the Legion of Super-Heroes . I LOVED what the gut wrenching stories he told in this very candy coated set of characters. He brought the true grit into the game. But wait it’s even heavier than that! He actually has his own comic book line now called wrote a piece back in October. So one piece of big news to come out of the New York Comic Convention is that Mark Waid is doing 2 big things. He’s coming over from DC Comics to Marvel Comics to work on Amazing Spider-Man. Now, it was only about a week ago I talked about what a fantastic job he did on the Legion of Super-Heroes . I LOVED what the gut wrenching stories he told in this very candy coated set of characters. He brought the true grit into the game. But wait it’s even heavier than that! He actually has his own comic book line now called Boom Comics , and I’ve been reading one of their titles called Dominion. They actually call it Boom Studios, and with good reason. They’ve had a lot of their work bought by Movie and TV people. And in one case they’re going in reverse. If you can believe it Farscape is going to be made into a comic book. Mark went into a little more detail in this interview .

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Tags: Comic Books, MoviesTV by Dave
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There’s one good reason to watch the WB’s new Spectacular Spider-Man show; it’s a good show. I’m not gonna lie to you. Spider-Man hasn’t been done this well, in animation, in quite a long time. Here are some of the high points of the show; the humor that Peter Parker throws out as Spider-Man is spot on. Next, Spider-Man is shown as a total freeloader! He is constantly jumping on buses, helicopters, trucks-ANYTHING. And that is great! Because they do it in the comics, and it’s a reality that he has to come from Queens and get to Manhattan. And there is no other way to do that kind of commute dressed that way. Next; the action is fast and brutal. Here the animators have clearly taken their cue from Spider-Man 3 and maybe a couple of scenes from 2 and 1. But they toss Spider-Man around on this show so much it’s funny. They throw him into walls, and bounce him off the ground. You’re watching and it’s so rugged, your first thought is, “how is the costume staying on?” And in that same vein; they have him doing all kinds of logical stuff with the web. The Spider-Man of the comic books is obviously a web master and in Spectacular, they show what a smart guy and powers would do by pulling junk onto opponents or punching them and yanking them around poles or whatever, it’s just very astute. Next the villain are the classics; The Vulture, The Sandman, The Rhino, Tombstone and Electro.

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Tags: Comic Books, MoviesTV by Dave
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Nope. I’m not talking about the Super Friends; that’s the 70’s TV show. And I’m not talking about the Justice League of America; that’s the group with Batman, the Flash, Aqua-man and Wonder Woman-well pretty much everybody from the Super Friends. And I’m not talking about the Justice Society of America. That’s a group from a parallel earth with similar heroes (although they’ve now been brought into our earth). I’m talking about the Legion of Super-Heroes, and they’re from the future. The 31^st century in fact. Sometimes they fight with Superman as a boy aka Superboy, and sometimes they fight with Supergirl. And I’m late the party, having just discovered them this year, but I love ‘em! One of DC Comics oldest and best comic books.

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Tags: Comic Books, MoviesTV by Dave
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